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Stories to Tell

Do you remember the first time you walked up the stairs to the Art Loft? Or the first time you looked up at the ceiling in the Cliff Room? Part of the fun of experiencing Martis Camp comes from the element of surprise throughout our community. The surprises within – both big and small – are the result of creative collaboration among our early development team who called on art, history and nostalgia to create an experience unique to Martis Camp. But do you know the stories behind some of these surprises?

Stairs to the Art Loft

Climbing the stairs to the Family Barn Art Loft makes an indelible first impression. Each riser displays a different pattern or color – the idea of Interior Designer Kim Anderson and the team at Vallone Design. As the stairs reach the Art Loft, another surprise awaits. A colorful floor, resembling a Jackson Pollock painting, invites the inevitable messiness of the creative process. The development team (who helped apply the effect) felt a spattered finish was preferable to a plain white-wash so that parents and kids would feel comfortable getting messy in the Art Loft. Great idea! Stop by on any Saturday afternoon to watch the creativity flow.

The Family Barn Theater

Enter the Family Barn Theater and you’ll be greeted by an unexpected trio of colors applied to the cushy seats. Look closer and you’ll see the red, yellow and green chairs are upholstered in a famous fabric designed by Ray Eames in 1949. Born in Sacramento, Eames was a visionary in the fields of furniture design, architecture and photographic arts. Her Eames Dot Pattern remains a whimsical classic more than 60 years since its debut – a perfect, local choice in the spirit of our community.

M&Ms at the Lost Library

Over at the Lost Library, the bottomless jar of M&Ms remains one of the most fabled and favorite details of Martis Camp since the very beginning. After a walk through the woods, who doesn’t want to stop by for a handful of these gems? Sometimes the simplest surprises make the biggest impression.

When dining at the Camp Lodge, you may be surprised to find a stone on the napkin at your place setting. These stones add the fifth dimension to complete your sensory dining experience. Mountain views, music, aromas and tastes from the kitchen are enhanced through a tactile sensation that connects you to our environment.

Custom quilt on the Cliff Room ceiling

On the ceiling of the Cliff Room you’ll find one of the biggest surprises at Martis Camp. Early in the design of the Camp Lodge, our development team found inspiration in the painted beams and ceiling of a rustic lodge in Wisconsin, as well as an antique bench with a quilted cushion (located next to the Cliff Room fireplace). Ultimately, these works of art came together in a combined vision for a decorative, upholstered ceiling.

Artist Barbara Coleman, who installed the padded, upholstered walls in the Camp Lodge Lounges and Locker Rooms, took on this additional project for the Cliff Room. She worked for 400 hours in her Arizona studio creating eight custom patchwork quilts for the unique octagonal ceiling. Like a contemporary Michelangelo, Barbara lay on her back on high scaffolding and applied the quilts to the ceiling, with padding, one by one. The result is a permanent work of art, unlike anything anywhere else, which will remain in perpetuity for the surprise and delight of all who enter the Cliff Room.

From the floor of the Art Loft to the unforgettable ceiling of the Cliff Room, the experience of Martis Camp is conveyed through its many surprising details. Yet our history would be incomplete without sharing the stories that go along with them, to be told and told again for generations to come.